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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. POTT, CAPE GIRABDEAU, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY A. POTT AND COTTON H.ALLEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,341, dated August2d, 1874; application filed Aprn 9, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I,'VIIEVNRY A. POTT, of Cape Girardeau, county ofCape Girardeau, State of Missouri, have invented a newandImproved'Metallic Loop for Harness-Straps;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being 'had to the accompanying drawingsmaking part of this specification, in whichn Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of a common and well-known leather harnessstrap with the `ordinarybuckle attached.` Fig.'2 is a like view of my improved loop with abuckle applied thereto, and ready for attachment to a leatherharness-strap. Fig. 3 shows my invention applied to an ordinaryharness-strap, but withv one end of the strap not inserted under theloop-plate e; and Fig. 4 is a sectional VView ofv strap, as at cg', sothat the constant movement.

or articulation of the buckle and its strain upon the strap falls uponand speedily wears out the leather at the bend a of the strap. Besidesthis, as heretofore constructed, leather loops, as at c c1, have beenmade of separate pieces of leather and sewed to the body of the strapbetween the lap a, for the purpose of hold- Ving in proper position amain portion ofv the strap, as well as its terminating extremity c2.

These loops c c1 in the manufacture of the strap are difficult to apply,and often give out or tear away, and so derange the strap, and more orless unt it for its proper use. Y

By my invention these difficulties are obviated, and to this end Iconstruct a double metallic loop in the form or with the configuration,as shown in Fig. 2, of which d d may be called standards, while e e arecross loop-plates connected with and at opposite sides of the lowerportion of the standards, as shown.

In constructing my loop the space between the standards d d and theloop-plates e e will be governed by the width of the leather strap towhich itis to be applied, as also the aggregate thickness of the leatherto be passed through it when it is applied upon a leather strap, asArepresented in Fig. 4. The upper ends of the standards d d are pierced,as shown clearly in Fig. 2, for the reception and retention of thetongue-bar b of an ordinary buckle; and my invention, as represented insaid flgure, is the condition in which I intendete put the same on saleto the trade.

I thus furnish a loop ready made, which dispenses with the making of thetwo leather loops c c1, saves the time consumed in sewing them to thebody of the strap, and also econo mizes leather. Besides this, when mymetallic loop is applied to a leather strap, as indi cated in Figs. 3and 4, the articulations of the tongue-bar b of the buckle, withattendant strain and Wear, will, in a. great measure, fall upon theupper ends d d of the standards d d, and thus, ina great measure,preserve the leather of the strap from wearing away at the point a'.

- Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is`

A Vshield for harness-straps, having crossbars e e and side bars d, incombination with a buckle hinged in the forward end of the bars d, asshown, for thepurpose described.

HENRY A. POT'I.

